The assertion hung between them. Ultimately, Rhett nodded.
“Well,” Rhett said, “at least we managed to leave Myrin back at the Rat.”
“True.” Kalen sneezed. “She does tend to make things … interesting.”
“Well that’s”-the boy sneezed as well-“certainly true.”
A third sneeze cut through the silence. Kalen and Rhett looked at one another. The half-elf dropped his hand to Vindicator’s hilt. Kalen waved him to peace and inclined his head toward the packs at the back of the skiff.
“Sorry.” Myrin shimmered into visibility. “The sea air is just so awful.”
Kalen found he wasn’t truly surprised. Her presence explained his spellscar’s serenity. Even now, he felt the calming influence of her own scar on his. From that, he really should have known she was there before they’d set out on the bay.
“We’re turning around,” Kalen said stiffly.
“Kalen!” Myrin protested, at the same time Rhett said: “Saer!” They looked at one another, both startled the other had cried out.
“Very well.” Kalen drew a loop of knotted rope from the back of the skiff and put it over his head and shoulders.
“ ‘Very well’?” Rhett asked. “You aren’t going to try to stop her from coming along?”
“Would it work?” Kalen drew out his two very sharp daggers.
“Not likely.” Myrin gave Rhett a smug smile.
Kalen ignored them both and turned to the ship instead. He stabbed one knife into the spongy wood, then the second higher up. Dagger by dagger, he made his way quickly up the ship’s hull. A quick check of the main deck yielded no obvious threat, so he tied off the rope to the main mast and threw the end back to the boat. He heard Rhett and Myrin arguing below and the rope pulled taut.
The ship hadn’t looked distinctive from a distance, but up close Kalen recognized the cut of the sails and the unusual configuration of ropes and cranks. He also knew some of the sigils from his days in Westgate, training with the Eye of Justice. This ship operated out of Akanul-Airspur, if he guessed rightly-and he found it remarkable that it had come so far west of its berth. Kalen saw no corpses on the main deck. If the crew perished of plague, they must have done so below. He waved to the others.
Myrin came up second, followed by Rhett, huffing under the weight of the armor Kalen had recommended he not wear. When the half-elf got to the deck, his face red as a ripe beet, he gave Kalen an apologetic grimace.
“Fascinating,” Myrin said, looking around.
“You sense something?” Kalen said.
“Oh no,” she said. “It’s just that I don’t remember ever having been on a ship. There’s a certain rocking motion that I find soothing. What do you say, Rhett?”
The half-elf was leaning over the side, making gurgling sounds.
Wood creaked as the ship rocked, but Kalen heard something else. “Wait.”
A knife in either hand, he stalked toward the aftcastle, where he’d heard the noise. The angle blocked his sight of possible ambushs, so he crept up the stairs, pausing to distribute his weight on each step and avoid the telltale creak of weathered wood.
When he reached the top, he saw a figure at the wheel. He stepped forward to investigate and a black shape parted from the night. He ducked and leaped back, causing the axe to sweep over his head. He slashed forward, but his steel hit only darkness. He leaped back again.
They moved into the moonlight and Kalen saw Sithe, her axe whirling. By the genasi’s indifferent face, she was neither surprised to see him nor had she meant to stay her strike. She swayed aside as a streak of blue light-Myrin’s spell-flashed past her harmlessly. She swept her axe wide and crouched low, ready to spring.
“Be that you, Little Dren?” called a familiar voice.
“Toy?” Kalen called back.
“Why, fancy that,” said the voice. “Two slayers meet in the night, on the corpse of a ship half a mile from the shore no less. What be the odds?”
Toytere stepped out from behind the wheel stand, the moonlight gleaming in the silver brooch on his black tallhat. Kalen had barely noticed the brooch before: a crescent moon set into what looked like a harp. He knew the symbol, of course, and wondered if Toytere truly belonged to that organization, or if he wore it as a trophy. Knowing the halfling, it was probably the latter.
Rhett charged up the stairs, Vindicator in hand. “What are you doing here?” he asked. “This is
“Funny,” Toytere said, his deadly eyes on Rhett. “The side of the ship say
Kalen made no move to lower his steel and neither did Sithe. The genasi stared at him, ready. For them, the battle had not ended, merely paused.
Then Myrin arrived, and Toytere’s dangerous smirk rose instantly into a brilliant smile. “Me lady!” He swept off his hat and bowed. “How fortunate it be that you’ve come, else”-he cast Kalen a meaningful look-“well, how fortunate it be.”
“Isn’t it? How fortunate I can be here to remind everyone to play nice.”
She cleared her throat in Kalen’s direction. With a grimace, he sheathed his blades. Sithe lowered her axe. It seemed the betrayal would come a bit later.
“I know why we’ve come,” Kalen said. “But why are
“Oh, the likely-I’m sure some swag be left over,” Toytere said. “We can work together, no? Lady Darkdance?”
“Oh,” Myrin said, her expression flustered. She’d been staring at Kalen and the question took her by surprise. “I suppose-yes?”
“Me lady be wise,” Toytere said. “Lady Darkdance and Sithe accompany me below, while the two fine gentles from Waterdeep stay above to keep watch.”
Kalen and Myrin both opened their mouths to speak, but Rhett beat them to the objection. “Nay!” he said. “Where Myrin goes, I go also. I’m her warder.”
“You heard the boy.” Kalen purposefully avoided Myrin’s eye. “He’s going.”
“Very well, my good guardsman,” Toytere said. “That be, if you’ve no problem with rats and cramped spaces.”
“Oh.” Rhett leaned toward Kalen. “I do have a … slight issue with rats. Their beady little eyes and scrabbling little claws. I just-”
“I know the feeling.” Kalen glanced at Toytere, then at Myrin, considering. He felt his spellscar draw toward her, not wanting to be parted. “I’ll go.”
The halfling did not look pleased at this pronouncement, though Myrin’s face brightened. “Perfect,” she said before Toytere could object.
“Well then,” the halfling said. “Beauty before the beast?”
He gallantly gestured to the stairs. With a smug look at Kalen, Myrin descended to the main deck. Toytere gave Sithe a meaningful look, and she drifted to his side.
Kalen gave Rhett a similar sharp look and the lad came closer. “Watch Sithe,” Kalen said. “Toytere might mean to betray us, and if he does, Vindicator is our last line of defense.”
“Not Myrin?” Rhett asked. “You should trust her more.”
Kalen stared at him seriously. “You’ve seen her tendency to get into trouble.”
“Like getting kidnapped and becoming a crimelord of Luskan?”
“Exactly like that.”
“She isn’t naive as you think,” Rhett said. “She told me she had a plan.”
“And she told you no details of this plan, I expect.”
Rhett shrugged. “Only that I should trust her. Perhaps you should too.”
“Ay!” Toytere called from below. “Are we going or no?”
Kalen was glad of the interruption. He hadn’t been sure how to answer that. He clapped Rhett on the shoulder. “Don’t take your eyes from Sithe.”
“Good luck, master.”
